Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

This past weekend I went to the Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. While I think that this exhibit is worth the trip, if you don’t have the chance to go to the art museum, here is what you missed.

There were many things that I took away from this exhibit and many things I learned. This exhibit presented the different ways gardens could be interoperated through painting. I didn’t focus as much on Matisse’s paintings, but I did pay particular attention to Monet’s Water Lilies, along with some other depictions of gardens. Also, I learned that painters like gardens a lot, but that’s beside the point.

These, I think, were the best of the bunch, and the ones I spent most of my time staring at.

The Water Lily Pond, Claude Monet

This painting was my favorite. It showed the foliage above the pond reflecting upside down, as it would if you were really looking at the pond that he painted.

The Pond With Water Lilies, Claude Monet

This one was really cool; it filled up half of the room. The original title, Agapanthus, was given to it because those flowers were the original focus, but he ended up painting over them and renaming the painting Water Lilies (Agapanthus).

Le parc de l’hôpital à Saint-Rémy, VanGogh

This painting is of an abandoned garden behind an asylum. For Van Gogh, this painting showed his deep depression and mental state. Through the fallen tree in particular, this painting shows another way gardens can be interpreted.

Overall, this exhibit showed many different gardens, depicted in many different ways. Clearly, the concept of a garden was completely different to each artist featured in this exhibit. The paintings in this article are only some of the amazing works currently on display.

The exhibit goes until January 5th, so I really recommend you go and see it; it’s worth the trip!